Rose: Histoire d'une couleur

Histoire d'une couleur #7

by Michel Pastoureau

Bien présent dans la nature, le rose n'a été fabriqué par l'Homme qu'assez tard, que ce soit en peinture ou en teinture. En Europe, avant le XIVe siècle, il est rare dans la culture matérielle comme dans la création artistique. Il devient plus fréquent dans le vêtement à la fin du Moyen Age grâce à l'emploi d'une teinture importée des Indes puis du Nouveau Monde : le bois de brésil. Sa vogue atteint son apogée vers la fin du XVIIIe siècle, lorsqu'il devient tout à la fois romantique et féminin, symbole de douceur, de plaisir et de bonheur. A la même époque, les horticulteurs parviennent à créer des roses roses : cela plaît tellement que la fleur finit par donner son nom à cette couleur qui jusque-là n'en avait pas. Aujourd'hui, le rose est moins présent dans la vie quotidienne qu'il ne l'a été à l'époque romantique. Tantôt jugée trop voyante ou de mauvais goût, tantôt appréciée comme couleur emblématique de la modernité (pop art, pink culture), cette demi-teinte fait l'objet d'une reconnaissance ambivalente. L'ouvrage de Michel Pastoureau retrace la longue et turbulente saga du rose en Europe, de l'Antiquité grecque à nos jours, en s'appuyant sur de nombreux documents et sur une riche iconographie.

Genres: History, Art, Nonfiction, Art History

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 4, 2024

About the author

Pastoureau was born in Paris on 17 June 1947. He studied at the École Nationale des Chartes, a college for prospective archivists and librarians. After writing his 1972 thesis about heraldic bestiaries in the Middle Ages, he worked in the coins, medals and antiquities department of the French National Library until 1982.
Since 1983 he has held the Chair of History of Western Symbolism (Chaire d'histoire de la symbolique occidentale) and is a director of studies at the Sorbonne's École pratique des hautes études. He is an academician of the Académie internationale d'héraldique (International Academy of Heraldry) and vice-president of the Société française d'héraldique (French Heraldry Society). When he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lausanne in 1996, he was described as an eminent scholar who has made a radical contribution to several disciplines.
Professor Pastoureau has published widely, including work on the history of colours, animals, symbols, and the Knights of the Round Table. He has also written on emblems and heraldry, as well as sigillography and numismatics.

Reviews

[Samuelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

7e livre de la collection which I'm pretty sure makes Pastoureau my most read author of all time (😮)
anyways I love this series and highly recommend it
this one is the first book on a "color of the second group" i.e. not one of the "main colors" and felt maybe a little less strong
it wouldn't be the one I'd recommend you start with (blue!) but overall I think of this collection more as an ensemble and, as one, it truly is one of my favorite works of all time
🩷

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

The academicness of this book hurts it at times. Michel can get quite list-y for some sentences and he mentions slows of things that an art history or art major might know but to a common person might be unheard of such as miniatures / illuminated manuscripts which I guess is just a drawing or something. Like early on he mentions the different compounds used to create reds like red ochre, durex, carthamin and madder and the different reds they create but it is not shown which I think would have been a nice touch so a lay person could get a better visualization. (he later admits struggling to find pertinent pictures for multiple time periods which explains some of the seemingly odd choices and admissions for what to include and where). This definitely leans a bit on the research / academic than enjoyment side of the nonfiction spectrum if that makes sense.
I applaud Pastoureau for admitting when something is unknown and to not draw connections or make assumptions. He also chooses a strictly European lens in history because that is what his knowledge base is in and doesn't want to either misinterpret the history of other areas and cultures or essentially just endlessly cite others for large swathes. I enjoy that honesty and shows the lengths he goes for integrity in his research and coverage of the color.
The beginning is really rough. Michel admits himself pink didn't really exist as a color or pigment or a concept really. So a lot of the early bits show stuff that isn't pink but is now due to aging, things that are sort of pink but sort of red, and other stuff lightly up to interpretation as pink. Pink is sort of both a color and a shade which Michel does admit and it really shows how that makes a book like really hard for early history. It just reads a bit clunky and like he’s saying “Pink wasn't a thing really but some of these are sort of pink” at times which leads to a weak start especially compared to the start of his other works in this series I imagine. After that it gets much better as even if pink wasn’t given a name or was understood like it was today it was definitely there. The third quarter was the most interesting with how pink took on various meanings, how it got its name and various connotations as cultures changed, and how it was viewed before we understood the color spectrum like we do today thanks to Isaac Newton. The conclusion sort of says it all about this book. Michel notes that compared the the previous colors he’s covered pink, as well the ensuing colors like brown and apparently purple, had swathes of history where they aren’t covered or often available making research hard (and not very enjoyable at times from a reading perspective). I applaud him for doing it but it can hamper the enjoyment when history gets in the way of how he seemingly writes and explores them like for the more available previous colors he’s written books about.

[Edie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pastoureau previously wrote books on what he calls “the principal colors”-red, blue, green, yellow, white and black. With this new entry, “Pink”, he intends on eventually exploring what he calls the “half colors” of purple, orange, grey and brown. All are primarily social and symbolic histories.

Pink is problematic. For most of history it didn’t even have a name. Its meanings constantly change, often ending up contradictory.

Although I enjoyed the book, the writing sometimes sounded a bit awkward. The author is French and it might be a language limitation or a less than perfect translation.

Nevertheless the book offers much information and many pictures (colored of course!). I look forward to his future installments.

[Siany Hennessey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally picked this book out when my holds weren’t ready at the library. The cover is striking, and there’s beautiful art on every page. I began by reading the entire text, but to be honest, I’m not enough of an artist or this particular type of history enthusiast to keep my attention. However, every picture has a little blurb about it! I finished the second half of the book reading the blurbs and just enjoying the art. So, while it is a very in depth, informative read, there are a few ways to enjoy it. (If you aren’t interested in chemicals and color mixing, I HIGHLY recommend skipping to section 2 to avoid burn out. I also think section 3 can be skipped. But read the blurbs in both sections and enjoy the art!

[Lea Silver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does the author despises pink?

The book contains great pictures, great design, good research (Eurocentric) and it is part of an appealing collection of books on color...

The main issue, is the author's clear bias against the color in modern times.

He patronizes it. Over and over. He vulgarizes it. He disvalues it.
He also disregards how beloved the color still is both among girls and adults alike.

The Pink Panther has done more to the color than Barbie?!?!
Some of his statements raises a lot of questions...

If you are buying this book because Pink is your favorite color, you will be let down.
If you are an artist/designer, you might feel like having to read more on Pink right away due to the author's problematic personal voice.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another good entry in this series. What I like about Pastoureau is that you learn just as much about art history, textiles, dyeing, etc. as you do about a particular color (or "hue," as I might insist when it comes to pink, even if the author doesn't).

It is has only been recently that pink has become a "feminine" hue. It was widely considered a wealthy color, then an antiseptic one, then a gauche one. Pastoureau claims that no adults choose pink as their favorite color, though I don't know if he's tested that proposition. The pink on the cover is a rather offensive shade. Give me a lighter hue, and I'd have a hard time coming up with a prettier "color."

[Aya B · Rating 5 out of 5]

To read about the full history of my lifelong favorite color is such a fun and enriching experience, I got to learn so much and saw exactly how pink came to be the famous color we know and love today.Moreover, it shows that pink not only has a complicated history, from constant name changes and lack of recognition to contradictory representation of the color, but also the fact that the whole gender association of it is very recent and not even the prominent thing about it! Safe to say I’m happy to have discovered this book 💕💕

[el · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's pretty hilarious that the only reason the color pink exists was for what we now refer to as white people to make art in their own image- watered down oranges and reds just weren't cutting it lol. Great, informative read.

[Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of the half colors the author covers. In the other volumes of this series there was a lot of historical works to pull from but much less so for pink. That made for an interesting read and an insightful one as well.

[Raphaëlle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intéressant

[Susan Liston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting series of books, going from pre-history to the present just following a color and how it appeared in art, fashion, decor, etc.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wish it was a little less academically written. I think it could have been more fun less wordy. I’d be interested to read more on his primary color series.

[Mo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally! The book on the color pink from a historic and scientific perspective I‘ve been waiting for.

[L.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Gorgeous images.

[Aya Reiko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Livre très intéressant et instructif, mais le texte est parfois trop répétitif.